High-Intent Signals: Knowing Who's Ready to Book

78% of homeowners go with the first contractor to respond. That stat gets cited constantly in this industry, usually to justify faster followup.

The more interesting question: which visitors should you respond to first?

Your website gets 500 visitors a month. Maybe 20 fill out a form. The other 480 leave. Some were competitors checking prices. Some were tire-kickers who will never spend money. Some were ready to book and just called someone else instead.

The difference between those visitors isn’t random. Intent leaves signals.

What intent actually looks like

A homeowner’s AC dies on a Thursday afternoon in July. They Google “emergency AC repair near me,” click your site, scan the page for a phone number, and call within 90 seconds. That’s high intent. The problem is urgent, the need is clear, and the timeline is now.

Another homeowner is planning a kitchen remodel. They search “plumber for kitchen renovation,” browse five websites, spend 10 minutes reading about your process, look at photos, check your reviews, and leave. They’re not ready today. But they will be ready in 6-8 weeks, and they just moved you to the top of their list.

Both visitors have value. The signals they leave tell you which one needs immediate response and which one needs nurturing.

The signals that matter most

Time on site

The average website visit lasts 52 seconds. Visitors who stay longer than 3 minutes convert at 2.5x the rate of quick bouncers.

Someone spending 5 minutes on your site is reading. They’re comparing. They’re moving toward a decision. A 15-second visitor clicked the wrong link or realized you don’t serve their area.

Time on site doesn’t guarantee intent, but it filters out the noise.

Pages viewed

One-page visitors rarely convert. Multi-page visitors who explore your services, about page, and contact information are evaluating you seriously.

The specific pages matter even more than the count. Visitors who view your pricing or financing page convert 3x higher than those who skip it. They’ve moved past “does this company do what I need” to “can I afford this company.”

Service-specific pages signal what they’re shopping for. Someone reading your water heater installation page for 4 minutes is not the same as someone who bounced off your homepage.

Page sequence

The order of pages visited reveals the buying journey.

Homepage → Services → Exit = early-stage research. They’re building a mental list of companies to consider.

Service page → Pricing → Contact = high intent. They’ve identified what they need, checked if they can afford you, and looked for how to reach you.

Service page → Reviews → Gallery → Contact = high intent with trust-building. They wanted proof before committing to reach out.

Emergency page → Phone number → Exit = either they called or they didn’t. Check your call logs.

Visit frequency

First-time visitors convert at about 2%. Returning visitors convert at 8-12%.

Someone who visited last week and came back today is further along in their decision process. They remembered you. They came back to compare or to finally take action.

Multi-visit patterns tell a story. A homeowner who visits Monday, returns Wednesday, and comes back Friday is actively shopping. They’re close to a decision. A competitor who checks your pricing monthly isn’t going to hire you.

Source and landing page

Where visitors come from predicts their intent level.

Organic search for “emergency plumber [city]” has higher intent than organic search for “how to unclog a drain.” One is looking to hire. One is looking to DIY.

Paid search visitors who clicked on a specific service ad have declared their interest. They’re not browsing; they searched for something you offer and chose to learn more.

Referral traffic from review sites tends to convert higher because those visitors have already decided to research contractors. They’re past the “do I need help” stage.

Device and time of day

Mobile visitors during business hours often indicate urgency. Someone searching for HVAC repair from their phone at 2pm probably has a problem right now.

Desktop visitors in the evening are often researching for a future project. They have time to compare options and aren’t in crisis mode.

This isn’t universal, but patterns emerge. Emergency services see more high-intent mobile traffic. Replacement and renovation services see more evening research traffic.

Building an intent scoring model

Each signal adds to an intent score. The score determines priority.

A simple model might weight signals like this:

Signal	Points
Time on site > 3 minutes	+20
Viewed pricing page	+25
Viewed 3+ pages	+15
Returning visitor	+20
Mobile during business hours	+10
Viewed emergency page	+15
Came from paid search	+10
Service page → pricing → contact sequence	+30

A visitor with 80+ points is showing strong buying signals. A visitor with 20 points is still browsing.

The specific weights depend on your business. An emergency service company might weight mobile traffic and emergency page views higher. A remodeling contractor might weight return visits and gallery views higher.

The point is to distinguish between “someone visited our website” and “someone is actively evaluating hiring us.”

What to do with high-intent visitors

Knowing intent is useless without action.

Immediate response

High-intent visitors who fill out a form need contact within 5 minutes. Every minute of delay drops conversion probability. By 30 minutes, you’ve lost 80% of your odds compared to a 5-minute response.

This isn’t about effort. It’s about systems. An automated text that fires immediately (“Thanks for reaching out, we’ll call you within 10 minutes”) buys time while maintaining urgency.

Read more about speed to lead and the 5-minute rule.

Retargeting

High-intent visitors who leave without converting are prime retargeting candidates. They already know your company. They already expressed interest through their behavior. A few targeted ads over the next week keeps you top of mind.

The retargeting window matters. Within 7 days catches people still in decision mode. After 30 days, they’ve probably hired someone else or abandoned the project.

Visitor identification

Most high-intent visitors never fill out a form. They research, compare, and call whoever feels most trustworthy or whoever answers first.

When you can identify those visitors before they reach out, you can reach them first. A visitor who spent 8 minutes on your HVAC replacement page, checked financing options, and left without converting is worth a proactive touchpoint.

This is where visitor identification changes the game. Instead of waiting for someone to raise their hand, you see who’s actively shopping.

The invisible demand problem

96% of website visitors leave without converting. That’s the standard stat. What nobody mentions is that 10-15% of those non-converting visitors showed high-intent signals.

On a site with 500 monthly visitors, that’s 50-75 people who seriously considered you and then hired someone else. At $3,000 average job value, you’re looking at $150,000-$225,000 in invisible demand walking out the door.

Google Analytics tells you how many visitors you had. It doesn’t tell you which ones were ready to buy. It doesn’t give you names, addresses, or any way to follow up.

Contractors who solve this problem capture demand that competitors let disappear. They’re not generating more traffic. They’re converting more of what they already have.

Matching intent to response

Different intent levels need different responses.

Low intent (research phase)

These visitors are gathering information. They might not need you for months, if ever. Aggressive followup wastes resources and annoys potential future customers.

Best approach: get them on an email list through useful content, then nurture over time. A guide to “choosing the right HVAC system” or “what to expect during a repipe” gives value and keeps you in their consideration set.

Medium intent (evaluation phase)

These visitors are comparing options. They’ve identified a need and are building a shortlist. They’re reading reviews, checking pricing, and eliminating companies that don’t meet their criteria.

Best approach: make your differentiation clear. Case studies, before/after photos, review highlights, financing options. Remove friction from the decision process.

High intent (decision phase)

These visitors are ready to act. They need a way to reach you that matches their urgency. Phone number prominently displayed. Chat widget for those who prefer typing. Simple contact form without 15 required fields.

Best approach: fastest possible response. If you can’t answer live, automated systems need to acknowledge them instantly and connect with a human within minutes, not hours.

Connecting intent data to your CRM

Intent signals are most valuable when they follow the lead through your sales process.

When a form submission arrives, attach the intent data. Note that this person viewed 6 pages, spent 7 minutes on site, checked pricing, and came from a “kitchen remodel plumber” search. That context changes how your office manager handles the call.

When a high-intent visitor leaves without converting but you can identify them, create a lead record anyway. Reach out proactively or add them to a targeted remarketing list.

Most CRMs don’t track website behavior natively. The gap between marketing data and sales data is where leads get lost.

The competitive advantage

Every home service business has the same problem: more traffic than conversions, more visitors than leads, more opportunities than booked jobs.

The contractors who win aren’t necessarily getting more traffic. They’re identifying which traffic matters and responding appropriately. They’re building systems that catch high-intent visitors before those visitors call someone else.

Intent signals aren’t hidden. They’re sitting in your analytics, visible to anyone who looks. The difference is doing something with what you see.

Key Takeaways